Dark Lore/Cruciatus Curse
Dark Lore: Cruciatus Curse Incantation: Crucio Pain is an interesting topic. Of all three of the unforgiveable curses, this one is the most innately dark. It was created to torture victims into giving up information, and it's uses really haven't changed much since it's conception. Torture of course has a myriad of uses from the useful to the indulgent but it's very difficult to image any use for a spell that causes pain. I have one theory as to how it may be applied, but we'll get to that later. First, as anyone who has seen this spell work knows, it causes extreme pain to the target. Pain is an interesting thing. While everyone feels it at some point, our bodies naturally react to protect us from it, and it's effects. After being under extreme pain, your mind numbs the memories of the pain, so while you remember something hurting, you don't remember exactly how much it hurt. So, while I can say this spell causes extreme pain, it's impossible to use words to describe how much due to the fact that your brain can't process and understand that much pain. Another interesting effect of pain is it's effects on the mind. It should be noted here that this curse is a completely mental exercise...it doesn't actually harm the body in any way, only the mind...which in turn affects the target's body. This means that through mental defenses or Occlumency it is possible to reduce the pain and resist the curse...and theoretically possible to resist it completely. While the mind numbs memories of pain, inflicting enough pain over time has curious effects on it. I'm amazed at the wide variety of reactions people show to intense pain. Some almost immediately lose themselves, their mind withdrawing to protect them, and they'll tell you anything you want to know. However, others minds will naturally form shields (even without any mental training) to protect them and what's inside their heads. During my Experiments I have found little to suggest who will and won't show which traits to pain. Between muggles, pure-bloods, males, females, mental training or not, I haven't been able to distingush any pattern on which traits will reveal themselves in which people. It's actually a very interesting study, and one which keeps me throughly invested in the experiments. I have to assume that some factor which I have yet to quantify gives certain people amounts of pain resistance, and others who are lacking this traits cave much easier to it. Of course to discuss pain and mental onslaught would be incomplete without talking about insanity. Enough pain, or smaller amounts over time, can induce different levels of insanity. A single dose of overwhelming pain can cause those without this pain resistance to lose a sense of themselves which they may never recover from. In losing themselves they lose memories and even certain personality traits causing them to become different people. Smaller doses can also cause this effect, but as the mind and soul have time to recover between the sessions, it takes much longer. However, these less intense sessions, over time, can have an overall larger effect than single large bursts. One patient has completely lost all their memories and personality, giving them a clear mind and making them perfect for any number of things after proper memories and personality traits have been implanted in them. Another interesting observation is that unlike the Imperius Curse and even natural pain, the pain that this spell causes doesn't provide the victim any resistance to further uses of the spell. Normal sources of pain eventually give the one feeling them a resistance of sorts so that they can experience stronger and stronger amounts of pain with less effect. This effect is both mental and physical. However, for this spell I have found that the amount of resistance a person has initially doesn't increase despite how often the spell is used. I don't know if that's because it's only a mental effect (and doesn't actually physically cause pain) or from some other effect. However, I find the whole thing very inexplicable. As physcial pain builds up a resistance, and mental attacks do the same, I would expect this spell to do the same, becoming less and less effective on someone the more it was used. I honestly can't explain my research as it shows the opposite I would have expected, and can only theorize either I'm missing something, or my research is flawed in some way I cannot see. My only theory for how this spell could have some sort of useful effect (other than the traditional uses of torture) is that I have seen in the experiments an increased resistance to the Imperius Curse in those who have experienced this spell multiple times or over a long period. I assume since it's a mental assualt and even though it won't increase resistance to this spell, it DOES increase the mental fortitude of the target, granting extra protection against the Imperius Curse. As I've shown, there are other ways to increase this resistance (use of the Imperius Curse, Occlumency, etc) which are less painful, but this could be another course taken towards that end. ---- Next Page Category:Dark Arts Category:Dark Lore